How I Lost Myself
by Annemarie787
Summary: Maximum Ride was abused by her father and has been kicked out of every foster home she's been in. Will the Martinez home be any different? And will she find love along the way? FAX.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hiya. So I've decided to take this story down and rewrite it because it had too many typos. I'm also making slight changes in it but nothing major. I know exactly where I'm going with this so please don't give any suggestions. Okay…**

**So here's the new and improved story! ….Right after this disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: James Patterson owns the characters. I own the plot and other ideas. Rick Riordan owns Percy Jackson, unfortunately for me.**

Prologue 

Darkness. That's all I saw as the person I loved most stole my life away from me. I didn't fight. I didn't scream. I knew this was coming, but I couldn't stop myself from loving them. Loving _him_. I made my choice and I regret nothing. I closed my eyes as death finally consumed me.

…..

Chapter One

Max's POV

My name is Maximum Ride. I don't have a home. I used to be normal—or as normal as I could be with the kind of parents I had—with an actual house, as crappy as it was, and actual friends. Life seemed so simple back then. But that all changed when my father, Jeb, (I don't refer to him as my dad anymore) came home disgustingly drunk one night a few days after my mother's death. That's the night he started hitting me. My teacher, Misses Press, became suspicious after I missed so many days of school and contacted Jeb and, lucky for me, he was high on crack or something at the time so she stopped by and saw all the visible bruises on me. She immediately took me to the local police station.

Jeb was the worst person in the world.

My mother was the best person in the world even though she was an alcoholic. She hid her stash well and loved me more than anything—even vodka. She and Jeb got in a fight over who paid for the lottery ticket of the month one day, and she took a drive and never came back.

I didn't have any living relatives, so I was put in foster care. That was 12 years ago. I've been in seven foster homes now. I know. That's pretty sad. The families just couldn't handle me, I guess, so they gave me up.

…..

Right now I'm sitting in my social worker's office waiting for my new foster parent to pick me up. I was slouched in a torn green chair in front of his desk. The more I think about it, the less sense it makes for people to want to adopt me. If I was adopting (I hate kids but if I _was_) then I'd want a baby so I could raise it myself so I wouldn't let anyone's mistakes screw my life up even more. And why would anyone want to adopt _me _when there were perfectly normal (well, as normal as foster kids can be) teenagers wanting a family to love?

Anyway, I'd seen a picture of this family: A woman and her biological daughter. They looked a lot alike. Both with tan-looking skin and dark, almost black, hair. They even had the same dark brown eyes and crooked bottom tooth.

"I told you," Gabe, my social worker began. "that I checked them out. They have a big yard with a nice and cozy house. No criminal records."

"Yeah, you've said that," I said looking out the window showing the crowded streets of Manhattan **(A/N: I only said Manhattan because that's where Percy Jackson lives and I couldn't think of anywhere better.)**.

He sighed. "At least try this time. Please at least try not to get into trouble."

"Hey, I haven't been arrested for almost a year!" I defended.

I heard footsteps outside of the room and then somebody knocked on the door briskly.

"Ah, that must be them." Gabe said. Soon that family I saw from the picture walked in with confident yet hesitant smiles on their faces.

"Hi, I'm Valencia Martinez, you can call me Val."

"And I'm Ella." The younger girl stated. By all the info Gabe gave me Ella is fourteen and "Val" is 43.

"Max." Gabe whispered to me when I didn't answer.

"Yeah, hi." I said bleakly.

"Well, um," Gabe started awkwardly. "Let's get started on the paper work, shall we?"

…..

When the paper work was all finished, I walked outside with the Martinez's. Ella sat in the passenger seat and I sat in the back. Once we were all in the car, Val started driving away. I stared out my window.

"We adopted four other children a little more than two months ago but most of them **(A/N: Note the "most of them" part.)** still don't seem to be adjusting so I thought by adopting you I would show them that other kids are in their situation, too." Huh. So that's why she wanted to adopt a delinquent. "Oh and they are all related, by the way." She added.

"We're going to have _so _much fun!" Ella exclaimed. "We can have slumber parties, make-overs, and go shopping—"I kind of just zoned her out as best as I could after "shopping".

Hours went by slowly. Soon we pulled up at a huge house. I glanced at the backyard. It was _huge. _My jaw dropped but I immediately composed myself.

I got out of the car and put a bored expression on my face. I followed Val into the house.

I walked into the cozy-looking house with one hand on my backpack strap and the other on my belt loop out of habit and found four other kids sitting in the living room area.

One girl looked about eleven or twelve years old with wildly curly dark hair and tan-ish skin. **(A/N: TAN. Not black. She has to be related to the others.)**She had dark brown eyes.

Sitting next to her was the cutest little girl I've ever seen. She looked pretty young – maybe six or seven. The girl had bouncy blond curls with adorable light blue eyes. Her eyes were sad though, pained even.

She was clutching a beat-up white teddy bear with a little angel outfit on it. The little girl forced a half-smile at me, though she looked scared.

And then next to her was a cute little boy who looked older than the blonde girl. He had the same curly hair except shorter and the same blue eyes except his have a sort of sparkle to them, mischief maybe.

And sitting next to _him _was another boy who looked about my age. He had very light strawberry blonde hair with the same blue eyes the other two had. He also had very pale skin.

"Well," Dr. Martinez said, "This is Nudge," She gestured to the dark haired girl. "Angel," The little girl. "Gazzy, short for the Gasman, don't ask why," she pointed to the little boy. "and Iggy." The strawberry blonde. "Everybody, this is Max."

"Weird names." I commented.

"Yeah, like you should be talking, _Max._" Iggy said.

"Enough, Iggy." Val said sternly before I could even react. "Follow me, Max. I'll show you your room."

I followed without a second glance at the other people. She led me upstairs to the last door on the right. There was a single bed next to the window which I hated; the sun would wake me up every morning. Gross.

The walls were painted blood red which I actually liked. There was a full length mirror next to a wooden dresser along the wall. There was even a balcony—nice.

I took a few more steps into the room. I took one more look around, and then faced Val.

"Oh, well, I'll give you time to unpack." And with that, she left and closed the door behind her.

I dropped my backpack with my few belongings in it on the floor. I crossed my arms and starting to pace thinking all my options through.

I didn't think she had any other kids besides Ella. I can handle one kid but I don't think even I have the heart to hurt those kids, especially Angel. Maybe I should save everyone trouble by just leaving now.

No, I can't do that, Val will get charged for abuse or maybe even murder if they can't find me.

Maybe I should weasel Iggy out of here. Blackmail, or something. He seems like the only serious threat.

After a few more minutes of this back-and-forth thinking I decided I should just stay a few nights and if I have any problems then I'll do a report-and-run.

I sat on the bed and grabbed my backpack from the floor. I opened the smallest compartment and took out a torn-up photo of my mom. I almost smiled as I looked at her beautiful and care-free face smiling at the camera from our kitchen table.

I jumped as I heard a knock on my door. I quickly refolded the photo and zipped it up.

"Come in."

I saw a hand hesitantly push the door open and once they were inside I saw it was that girl, Nudge, I think her name was.

"Uh…Hi. I'm Nudge." She said smiling at me. "I'm twelve and downstairs you saw Iggy, Gazzy, and Angel. Iggy's fifteen, Gazzy's nine, and Angel's seven. I'm pretty sure you know how old Ella and Val are considering they picked you up _all the way from Manhattan_! Man, that's a long trip—Manhattan all the way to Navajo, _Arizona_—

"Is there something you needed?"

"Oh, sorry, sometimes I just kind of get off topic. I just wanted to welcome you and if there is anything you need, like a tour of the house or something, just let me know."

I half-smiled. "Thanks." For once, it wasn't sarcastic. I'm not a bitch all the time, all right?

"Anytime." With that, she walked out of the room and closed the door.

**A/N: Sooo, tell me what you think of this new-and-improved story! And if you haven't read the old one, still tell me what you think! Thanks for reading, and it will get better. I just had to introduce everyone.**

**So, yeah. Please review! :) **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: It feels like I haven't updated in forever and a day… But I've been grounded and yeah. Sorry if you had to reread the first chapter because you forgot what this is…**

**Enjoy!**

Chapter 2

Max POV

I never really fell asleep that night—but then again I never do. When all the sleepy fog drifted out of my head, I checked the black bedside clock. 5:34 A.M. I pulled the blankets off my body and stumbled to the door, almost loosing my balance in the process. I pressed my clammy hand to the knob and twisted and opened the door hastily so it wouldn't make a sound. Hesitantly, I took a step onto the wooden floor. The coldness felt nice on my foot.

It was dark and silent all through the house which was kind of peaceful until my stomach grumbled.

I searched the refrigerator for food first but when all I saw was low fat milks and yogurts I decided to check the cabinets. And, don't get me wrong, I'm the farthest thing from a picky eater. But when you have as big a selection as this, you should never settle for anything less than perfect.

I found a stash of mini Cheetos in the first cabinet and grabbed a few bags. I froze when I heard footsteps coming toward me from the other room but then quickly tossed the Cheetos onto the counter. After I determined the speed the possible threat was traveling at, I shut the cabinet and turned to face whatever was challenging me. My whole body tensed when I saw a rather large figure walk around the corner and into the kitchen.

I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding in when I saw it was just Iggy, but I still didn't completely relax my tense muscles.

"Max?" His hair was even messier than when I first saw him and his eyes looked almost friendly. Maybe that was just because it was dark.

"What?" I snapped.

He didn't reply as he walked over to one of the other cabinets and took out a bag and ate out of it. Turns out, they were pretzels. It looked as if he hadn't eaten in months.

"That's a big appetite for such a tiny boy," I said.

"Yeah," he said between mouthfuls, "and that's a big appetite for such a tiny girl." He motioned to the Cheeto bags behind me.

"Touché," I muttered.

I scooped them up and began to walk to the staircase when he said, "So, what're you doing up, anyway?"

I glanced at him to see his expression when I saw him looking at me curiously. "Uh, couldn't sleep." He nodded and threw out the now-empty bag. I forgot what it felt like to talk to another human being beside Gabe. It felt amazing and I didn't want it to end. "What about you?"

"Oh, uh, Angel had another nightmare," he replied, leaning against the counter.

"Does she usually have nightmares?" I blurted.

"Nah, she has as many as any other seven-year-old," he said, "not that I would know, though."

I cracked a smile and he did the same.

…..

The next morning I fully woke up thanks to the sun. I tried to go back to sleep but gave up after a few minutes. I sat up in bed and tried to smooth out my hair which felt like a soft haystack. Groggily, I stood and walked out the door.

No one was in sight and I couldn't hear them either, which is saying a lot considering my excellent hearing. I walked down the stairs slowly and found Iggy handing out cereal bowls. Angel gratefully grinned at him and dug in. I wonder why she looked so miserable yesterday…

"G' mornin', Max!" Nudge said cheerfully from her seat at the table.

I half-smiled. "Morning."

I walked in the direction of the fridge when I saw a sticky-note on the counter.

_Went to the store, _it read,_ Be back at 10._

_ -Val and Ella_

I wonder why Ella went too…

I sighed and poured myself some milk and tossed the empty carton aside. It felt weird just standing there so I decided to change and maybe even shower if I could. I explored the house a bit and found that they had at least three bathrooms and a ton of hallways just filled with bedrooms. The house even had a room with at least six computers! Whoa, these people were loaded!

I went back into my room and brought my clothes into the closest bathroom. I haven't really looked in a mirror since my last shower which was a few days ago so I was a bit shocked when I saw my appearance. My blond hair was knotted together and sweat stuck it to my face. I had bags under my eyes which I was used to, but they somehow looked darker. I looked too skinny, like I haven't eaten in weeks, which wasn't really true, but it's not like they feed you all that much back at the orphanage. So, I pretty much looked like crap.

I locked the door behind me and search the shower for soap and shampoo, but when I couldn't find any I checked the cabinets under the sink and found a large Zip-Lock bag that had "_**MAX**_"__written in Sharpie on the front. I opened it up and found soap and shampoo and even shaving cream and an expensive-looking razor. I couldn't remember the last time I shaved.

I took my time in the shower. As I combed my fingers through my hair I found that it wasn't as tangled as it looked and it would be all right to brush. So that's what I did. I probably shouldn't get so used to this because I probably won't be here tomorrow. But I couldn't help but spoil myself just a little.

I heard my stomach grumble loudly so I hurried up a bit so I could eat something. Before walking out the door, I checked myself in the mirror. I looked pretty good. Still too skinny and the bags under my eyes were still visible, but my hair was combed and I looked like an actual human being now.

I was in there longer than I thought because when I got downstairs, Val and Ella were back and watching TV together and the microwave clock said 9:57.

"Good morning, Max," Ella said from the couch.

"Uh, yeah," I mumbled awkwardly.

"We brought you some breakfast," Val said with a warm smile. "We got back about ten minutes ago so you're going to have to warm it up." When she told me where it was I practically ran, my mouth drooling, to where it was put away.

I opened the white food carrier it was held in, trying not to rip it with my savageness. I was not disappointed. Inside were scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and even a few pancakes.

I walked back into the living room and said, "Val, is this all for me?"

She grinned at my expression. "Yep."

…..

The days that passed were uneventful and utterly boring. I didn't really talk to anyone unless asked a question or unless I was asking a question. Maybe I could live here until I got a job and got enough money to pay for my own place. Maybe. The people seemed nice enough, but I still didn't trust them.

...

"So," Val said one night at dinner (she makes us eat together), "I was thinking we could go to the movies tomorrow night."

"Sounds great!" Nudge said.

"All right," Gazzy said but then regretfully turned to Iggy for full permission.

"Iggy? Max?"

"Sure." I shrugged.

"Yeah, okay," Iggy finally said.

**A/N: I would write more but I really need to go right now. Thanks for reading! Please REVIEW!**

**-Annemarie787**


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